A surgeon has conducted remote corneal surgery using a 5G connection.
Professor Gianni Alessio, Director of the Ophthalmology Department at the Bari Polyclinic in Puglia, Italy, controlled and guided the laser in the 4D Suite platform from his office, performing the procedure on the patient who was in the operating room.
The patient was a 53-year-old man with Cogan’s dystrophy.
Professor Alessio conducted the surgery in real-time, leveraging 3D visualisation through an iVis Remote Control Station.
To make the achievement possible, Telecom Italia (TIM) installed two 5G small cells and routers in Professor Alessio’s office and the operating theatre, connected via TIM’s core network via a high-speed 10Gbps fibre backhaul link.
The operation demonstrated low latency of under 50 milliseconds between the iVis Remote Control Station and the iRes 2KHz laser.
While 5G applications, including remote surgery, have faced scepticism, this latest milestone suggests the potential of 5G in specific medical applications, particularly in learning and development.
It addresses current tele-surgery limitations, allowing ophthalmologists to safely perform complex corneal surgery from remote locations.
Professor Alessio said: ‘Carrying out the operation with remote control, through fully automated processes, opens up new frontiers for the ophthalmologist surgeon, allowing him to operate on complex corneal pathologies remotely, in total safety, wherever the operating room is located.’
Giovanni Migliore, the General Director of Bari Polytechnic, expressed his satisfaction with the collaboration.
He said: ‘Thanks to the synergy between iVis Technologies, TIM, and Polytechnic, we have implemented a complete system for process automation and real-time remote control of a surgical operation, overcoming what is still a limitation of the application of telesurgery.’
TIM is committed to accelerating the integration of digital technologies in healthcare, including telemedicine, augmented reality, and virtual reality, all of which greatly benefit from the high performance of the 5G network.
Bari Polytechnic has introduced a healthcare data archiving system utilising blockchain technology to ensure the unalterable recording of surgical interventions for legal liability.
In 2019, TIM facilitated the first 4K remote-surgery consultation in Europe using its 5G network.
Professor Giorgio Palazzini, an expert in surgical technologies, remotely participated in laparoscopic surgery in Terni from Rome via a virtual-reality visor.
Three cameras in the operating room allowed him to observe the procedure, patient biometrics and internal organs in real-time.
More than 30,000 surgeons worldwide, including attendees at the 30th International Conference of Digestive System Surgery, watched the event via live multi-streaming.
